a. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to vehicle safety devices, and more particularly to a bracket assembly mounted to the interior of a vehicle door frame adapted to protect the vehicle door latch from contact with the vehicle window in the event of a frontal crash.
b. Description of Related Art
Passenger safety is of importance to today's car manufacturers. With the development of crumple zones, laminated safety glass, and air bags, manufacturers have provided a relatively secure environment to passengers seated inside the vehicle's cabin. However, certain crash events present risks that could compromise the interior safety features of a vehicle. Specifically, in the event of a frontal crash or offset frontal crash, deformation of the vehicle structure could rearwardly displace an unbroken side door window housed inside the car door cavity. The unbroken window, as it is displaced, can impact the door latch actuator mechanism, triggering the latch and thrusting the car door open.
While various mechanisms have been developed to shatter the glass of a vehicle's side window in the event of a collision, such mechanisms do not provide protection against the possible triggering of the door latch actuator mechanism during a frontal impact collision. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,145 to Vollmer discloses a striker device (5) that is actuated by a sensor to impact and thereby shatter the side window in the event of a crash. The device of Vollmer, however, relies on a complex sensor system to detect an impact and an equally elaborate pyrotechnic triggering device to activate the breaker. Such a complicated system is expensive, difficult to install, and prone to failure. Most importantly, the device of Vollmer is only triggered from a side impact collision and therefore, in the event of a frontal impact, the unbroken side window can still trigger the door latch actuator mechanism and thus thrust the vehicle's door open.
Similarly, French Patent No. FR 2,874,559 to Olivier provides a mechanism to shatter a side window in the event of a crash. Olivier discloses a striker (30) and window glass, both mounted inside a vehicle door frame (10). The striker (30) is cylindrical in shape with a pointed end, and the pointed end is fixed in a position near the vehicle's window glass. If a force is applied to the vehicle door in a direction normal to the surface of the vehicle window, as occurs during a side impact crash, the vehicle window will be displaced in the direction of striker (30). If the force is relatively large, the vehicle window will impact the pointed end of striker (30) and striker (30) will break the glass of the vehicle window before the vehicle window impacts door lock (14), thus protecting door lock (14) from damage.
While the device of Olivier overcomes several of the drawbacks of the device of Vollmer, particularly those associated with high cost and complex activation, the device of Olivier still suffers from several significant shortcomings. Specifically, striker (30) only impacts and breaks the vehicle window glass when the collision force is directed normal to the vehicle window, such as during a side impact crash event. In the case of a frontal or offset frontal crash event, when the displacement of the vehicle's side door window is in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of the window, striker (30) does not contact the door glass, and is therefore unable to break the glass of the vehicle window. Therefore, the vehicle window can still impact the door latch actuator mechanism and open the vehicle's door.
It is therefore desirable to provide an inexpensive and simple to install vehicle window blocker and breaker that can shatter the glass of a vehicle window following a frontal crash event and prevent the vehicle window from impacting and triggering the vehicle's door latch actuator mechanism.